Early Career
Wilson was born in Currygrane, Ballinalee, County Longford, Ireland and was the second son of James and Constance Wilson, of Currygrane. He was educated at Marlborough College, and made two unsuccessful attempts to get into the British Army colleges Royal Military Academy and three to get into Sandhurst between 1880 and 1882. These exams relied heavily on cramming and rote learning.
In 1882, he succeeded in being commissioned as a lieutenant in the Longford Militia (which was a militia battalion of the Rifle Brigade) and then transferred to a regular battalion. He briefly transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles in 1884, but quickly returned to the Rifle Brigade.
Wilson was posted to India in 1885 and in 1886 went to Burma to serve in the Third Burmese War. He received several serious wounds, including an eye wound (which earned him the nicknames “Ugly Wilson” and “the ugliest man in the British Army” ) and one which forced him to use a walking stick for the rest of his life. His injuries refused to heal in India and he returned to Ireland until 1888 when he was passed fit for regimental duty. Wilson in the meantime has been studying for the Staff College at Camberley. He passed the entrance exam, proving that he did not lack brains, and graduated in December 1893. He was promoted captain in 1893. From November 1894 he worked in the Intelligence Department of the War Office.
A protégé of Lord Roberts, he was seconded to the staff in 1895, and in 1897, he became Brigade Major of the 3rd Brigade at Aldershot, and from 1899 to 1901 he saw active service during the Second Boer War with the 4th (Light) Brigade (as a Brigade Major) before becoming Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and assistant military secretary to Lord Roberts and was Mentioned in Despatches, awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and was recommended for brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel on attaining a substantive majority.
Henry Wilson was called upon to accept the parole of Lieutenant-Colonel Repington that he would not continue his affair with Lady Garstin. Repington was later tried and found guilty of breaking it – he thought his behaviour justified and that Wilson’s was not - but had to resign his commission and was an important war correspondent during the Great War.
Read more about this topic: Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet
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